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I accompanied my husband for a stay at the Ocean Reef Resort on business for three days and found the complex to be very beautiful. The service was outstanding. We walked from our room to the meeting location; however, you could call for a golf cart and would be picked up in minutes or could rent a golf cart for your own use. It seemed there were very few members on site during our stay, as there were literally thousands of golf carts parked and there were very few people at the pool or restaurants.

The meals catered by the resort for the business meetings were delicious and the service outstanding. They do have quite a few rules about dress, etc., and cell phone calls are not allowed in any of the restaurants on the complex. This was pointed out to my husband when he received a business call during lunch in one restaurant (one of only two tables occupied) and was asked to go outside.

We stayed at the Inn (Amberjack) and our room was very nice with a view of the water. While the room was nice, it was not as fabulous as the price would lead you to believe. I am not sure we would have paid the going rate if we had not been comped. Not a top rate room when you have to fill the coffee carafe from the bathtub, as there is no sink next to the coffee maker, and the carafe would not fit under the sink faucet in the bathroom. There were two large closets, one in the room and one in the bathroom, with large shelves, which made putting clothing away very nice. A sliding door led to a nice little patio outside our room with lounge chairs and a table.

The down side of the complex was the pervasive and constant smell of sulphur everywhere; it was a very unpleasant smell in the hot and humid weather. We could not enjoy the patio outside our room due to the odor. We ordered drinks and tried sitting outside near the pool bar but the odor sent us indoors. There are also quite a few feral cats and kittens all over the property and we awakened to the sound of cat fights one night.

Overall the property is beautiful and the service was wonderful, and would certainly return on business, but I'm not sure we would choose to stay for a vacation.

Stayed June 2014, traveled on business

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3Thank 1952Kim

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.

Stayed here for a conference for three days. The location is REALLY out of the way but beautiful.

The good news? The place is beautiful.

The bad news? it's actually a private club where people pay (I hear) hundreds of thousands of dollars to join. Unfortunately, the attitude of both the staff and members is somewhat less than welcoming - lot's of "you can't go there/do that" nonsense.

The other bad news? My room had a lovely view of the parking lot. For what we paid, I would have expected more.

If you have to go there, you can make a wonderful time of it. But choosing to go there? Next time I'll pass.

Stayed April 2014, traveled on business

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5Thank TheBFCE

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My husband and I stayed at Ocean Reef for a meeting. It is a beautiful property and huge! It is like a self-contained 2000 acre island resort. If you want to visit other areas of the Keys, you will drive away from the "Island". The property is beautiful and has everything needed including shopping/grocery store, etc. We found it easier to take advantage of the beauty and some amenities by renting a golf cart each day. However; the pools/beach area and restaurants are next to the hotel. Things are quite pricey but that is expected in a resort of this caliber. We did experience good service from everyone! We had one incident where an intoxicated guest nearly beat our door down wanting in and yelling to us. Upon calling the front desk, it was only a few minutes and actual law enforcement officers arrived! Didn't expect that, but it showed how serious they are about guest's safety! All in all, it was a wonderful experience!

Stayed March 2014, traveled on business

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2Thank NCAlice

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Great amenities for members and guests, alike. Front desk service, by a lovely young lady, was excellent. Her manager, who when she complimented me on my nail color, was almost too quick to jump in with comments about their non-conformity to ORC Dress Code. He could hv kept quiet. Bartenders at the pool bar were off the hook fun. Getting into a restaurant during holiday wknd, was a bear, even with reservations. Amenities for families are many.

The golf carts are dangerous. Young kids flying by...couldn't count the number of squealing breaks.

We were thinking of membership until a pre-teen flipped us the bird while we were taking a walk. No property, which doesn't police its own, is worth the price.

Stayed May 2014, traveled with family

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3Thank mrs_mtc

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Front desk staff had no knowledge of activities or convention location. They hesitated when asked any question. Young trainees with no supervisor. Took an hour for service at pool bar. Many rules applied inconsistently. A nightmare if you don't reserve a golf cart in advance but they don't tell you that when booking. If you're a hotel guest you're a second class citizen to members. Not enough pool chairs for a guests. No beach access.

Stayed May 2014

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9Thank Lapfam

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The 30th Annual BBA Retreat was at Ocean Reef this year for Mothers' Day weekend. Ocean Reef was a fabulous venue for this event. The property was beautiful and the staff was friendly. The food was spectacular, especially the seafood. The pools were lovely and overlooked the water and there were lots of fun activities available, like boating, fishing, kayaking, tennis, golf . . . We chose kayaking.

Our room was Room No. 315 in the Pompano Building, which was basically immediately across from the main lobby. The room was lovely. The exterior of the building looked a little dated, but the interior of the room was remodeled and fabulous. The room was spacious and comfortable. It even had a little sitting area. The bed was amazing. I felt like my body just melted into the bed. The bathroom was lovely. There was even a mini-workout-station in the room!!

My husband's mom and step-dad thought it would be extra-special if they got a two bedroom condominium because then we would all have a nice living area to spend time together. It was spectacular. It was technically three bedrooms with three full bathrooms. It was long and ginormous! The condominium buildings were two stories with separate condominiums on either the first or the second floor. The condominiums were quite a ways from the main hotel. We were told golf carts were available for $75 per day. We opted to just drive back and forth.

When we first entered the condominium on Anchor Road, Condominium Unit 61B, the master bedroom was immediately to our left. It was spacious and beautifully decorated with a large bathroom and closest. It had a king size bed. There were three long rectangular windows at the far end of this room. This room looked out toward the street.

We continued walking and there was a laundry room to our right and then the kitchen. The kitchen was complete with granite counter-tops, a large fridge, and beautiful wood cabinets. It was exquisite. The kitchen was essentially u-shaped with a high-top-counter bar opposite the refrigerator. Most of our time inside the condominium was spent near this bar.

The dining room was connected to the open kitchen design. The dining room table was wood and comfortably sat 6 people.

Immediately to the left of the dining room was an extra seating area (or third bedroom). It had its own closet, full bathroom and pull-out couch. The bathroom in this room had two entry doors - one connected to the main living area and other directly to the room.

Just past the dining room was the family room with floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out onto the canal. There was one long three cushion couch along the wall and two couch-chairs on either side.

The entry to the final bedroom (the one Michael and I stayed in) was just opposite the family room. It also had floor to ceiling windows that looked out onto the canal. This room had a queen bed. The only complaint about this room was the only curtain was very thin material and offered no protection from the morning sunlight. Not that we would have slept in, but it is always nice to have the option. It would have been nice if there was also a thicker curtain.

No doubt, the ORC is a stunningly beautiful property, and I was really looking forward to my weekend stay there.

However, the single most important thing for me at a hotel is a quiet room where I can get a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, I didn't find that here and I was forced to check out early due to ongoing noise issues emanating from the room right above me. I brought the situation to their attention three times over the course of four hours, yet the noise continued.

I requested a different room and they were unable to relocate me. I left the property and ended up staying at the Hampton Inn in Homestead…at least it was a quiet room.

I was quite surprised at how management at the property handled the situation, and that a VIP guest (I was a featured speaker for a conference there) was forced to leave the property because of the hotel's inability to deal with unruly and inconsiderate guests.

Will I be back? Probably not. Would I recommend this place to others? Yes, if you don't mind loud and raucous behavior from your neighbors.

Beautiful place. Lousy management.

Stayed May 2014, traveled on business

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9Thank TravellingFlaGator

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RichardW305, Vice President of Membership at Ocean Reef Club, responded to this review,
May 15, 2014

It is unfortunate that your visit to our Private Club did not end the way you or the Club would have anticipated. In all interactions, the associates and management at the Ocean Reef Club put Member and Guest satisfaction first. With that in mind we carefully document all service-related issues. As a result we have very detailed notes on what transpired in this situation and we hope you will see the lengths we went to in our efforts to resolve this issue.

Your first complaint of noise was received at 4:30 in the afternoon. Upon receiving the complaint that you were unable to sleep, the front desk immediately called the room above and sent someone to check for disruptive sounds in the area. Our staff member was unable to discern any noise out of the ordinary for the time of day. In the early evening at 8:30 p.m. your second complaint was lodged, citing noise emanating from the room above. Public Safety went to that guest room and found a father and son who, as part of the conference you were addressing, had just arrived back after being out all day.

Due to the fact that the Inn was fully occupied by the group that was hosting you, switching rooms at the Inn was not an available alternative. This does not relieve us from our responsibility to provide outstanding service to our Members and Guests. So as you looked to depart the Inn early that evening our front desk supervisor attempted to discuss options with you but noted in his report that on two attempts he was unable to engage you in a discussion.

Still not satisfied we had done all we could, the Club took two additional steps. Our Executive Director of Lodging called the phone number you provided upon check in to offer his apologies for your dissatisfaction. He was unable to reach you as it was an unattended office phone number with voicemail. He left a message and then followed up again in an email to you, further offering his personal assistance.

That was still not sufficient for us so we visited with the conference director that hired you to speak to see if there had been any impact on their conference or if there were some additional steps they would like us to take. They were disappointed you had checked out but assured us there was no impact to their program and nothing further was required from their perspective.

At the end of the day you didn’t get to sleep when you wanted, that can be very frustrating. We could not locate any inappropriate or noisy disturbance at 4:30 in the afternoon leaving you dissatisfied and that was frustrating for us. Again, we do hope that this detailed account of our determination to resolve the situation indicates how serious we are with respect to our Member and Guest Satisfaction.

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